Friday, October 10, 2014
Frankenweenie: Sparky’s Day Out
It's the morning after his rebirth, and with Victor at school, Sparky finds himself alone and bored in the attic. The whole dialogue exchange with Mom and Dad (who comes home for a nooner and, to kink things up, pretends he's a traveling book salesman) was probably always destined to be cut, but was one of my favourite parts of the script.
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Great set of storyboards for this scene. Next scene we'll see is when Edgar spots Sparky. And the one when Sparky meets Persephone. Oh, and did you storyboard the deleted maypole scene?
ReplyDeleteHi Amelia, thank you so much for your kind words:) I actually did board the deleted maypole scene, I thought it was a really nice scene and had some funny stuff in it. I was a little disappointed it didn't make it through to the final cut, but the film needed some more momentum, and I think they felt we could loose it!
DeleteYeah, it's a shame the scene got cut from the film. But at least it got mentioned in the novel when Edgar grumbles about the maypole incident when he was on his way to the nurse's office. That is, until he spotted Sparky. Not sure if you have the boards for the deleted scene, though.
DeleteWhy was this scene cut from the film?
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline,
DeleteThis was an early version of the scene, I think an iteration or two into the process, and we were still basically working out the kinks in the script. When we draw up a movie like this we film it, put dummy voices, scratch music, and sound fx on it, and that allows us to have a very early look at a rough version of the film. It's then that we notice things about the film that we maybe didn't see in the script. We might find that the film is way too long and we are going to have to cut a lot out. We may find that we spend too much time with this character or that, and not enough time with our main character, or with our main plot. And sometimes, (as with Dad coming home for some alone time with Mom (and pretending to be a traveling book salesman!)) the set-up of the scene was thought to be tonally "off", and taken out.
When we make these cuts, sometimes we'll take a scene out entirely (like the Maypole dance), but more often we will shorten the scene down to just the essential bits of information, and re-board it. That's how so many of the ideas in this scene made their way into the final film, while at the same time being completely different.
I think there were a lot of other things that were cut too. I remember that there was a moment where Vicoter's mom used a hair pin to unlock the door to the attic as well as a Bob moment where after he and Victor handled the sea monkeys, he said, in the end it makes you wonder: were they monsters or were we and Victor goes why did you say that and Bob goes I don't know. Just thought I should. Were these moments that you just couldn't find places for in the movie?
ReplyDeleteHi Krista,
DeleteYes, I remember those moments too (I actually really liked the Bob line!), and yes some of these cuts were made for timing reasons. I think with the Mom scene, we just figured a shorter way for that action to happen, and even though it's nice texture to think of Victor keeping Sparky under lock and key, I think the scene still plays without that extra beat.
There comes a point in a film like this where the thrust of the story takes over, and you just want to stay with the main action- in the case of Bob's line we wanted to get to Sparky and the Burning Windmill faster, and dropping a line of Dialogue helped us get out of the scene more quickly. It's important to keep the sense of excitement building up, to give you the audience a real thrill ride. As funny as a line of dialogue may be, if it's in the wrong place it can slow everything down, and then you have to start over building suspense again. Besides, Bob's line feels like a coda, like it wants to wrap-up the meaning behind the film (I think it was riffing off the "t'was beauty killed the beast" line from King Kong), when the real climax of the movie is the emotional one with Victor and Sparky, so a decision was made to keep the film moving up to that point, and only then slow down the action for greater emotional impact.
What other scenes, ideas, and jokes were involved before being cut?
DeleteHi Patrick! I wanted to write to you as I was one of the Assistant Editors on Frankenweenie and I loved working with you. This was one of my favourite sequences you boarded, with Sparky having the dummy in his mouth, one of my favourite of ALL the frames. I am so pleased I have found this blog, as I have long wanted a Sparky tattoo - but drawing inspiration from the images you drew rather than the 3D models we shot. I just wanted to touch in and tell you I am thrilled to see your sequences, but this one in particular. Thank you for posting them. How my heart sang on finding his blog and remembering the joy that all your new images would daily bring. Gorgeous. Thank you. Emma.
ReplyDeleteHi Emma! It’s been so long, how are you? I hope you and your family have made it through this last couple of years unscathed! I am very flattered by your kind words, you’re far, far too kind :o) I have to say I’m rather embarrassed at the thought of one of my drawings being etched permanently onto someone’s skin, but if you’re absolutely sure that’s what you want, please feel free to use whatever you’d like!!
DeleteAlso! If you are adverse to me getting one of the images tattooed, please do let me know. I am respectful of artists and would look for something else!
ReplyDelete